Tag Archives: children’s programming

Knowledge Network announces Knowledge Kids’ first-ever original animated series Luna, Chip and Inkie: Adventure Rangers Go

From a media release:

British Columbia’s trusted viewer-supported public broadcaster, Knowledge Network, is excited to announce the debut and first-look of their first ever original animated series Luna, Chip & Inkie: Adventure Rangers Go, featuring their longtime mascots of the same name. The series, for children aged 3-6, will premiere in Spring 2022 on Knowledge Network in B.C., and across Canada on the Knowledge Kids app and website. TFO is excited to air the series in French beginning September 2022. Along with the announcement, the Knowledge Network has released a first-look image and teaser video of the new series.

The made-in-Canada production has the financial support of the Canada Media Fund, Shaw Rocket Fund and Epic Story Media, who is also the global distributor of the series. The music-filled series is based on the well-known animated characters, Luna the owl, Chip the beaver, and Inkie the octopus, who have appeared in Knowledge Kids branding, books and video games since 2008. In each episode, the trio of enthusiastic helpers tackle problems in their town, but not before they experience some hilarious flops that require them to look for different ways of unlocking a solution.

“Creative problem-solving, resilience and teamwork are central to the mission of Knowledge Kids content,” said Michele Paris, Senior Manager of Children’s Programming and Executive Producer on the series. “Luna, Chip and Inkie will help kids see new ways of approaching a problem and persevering to get the job done!”

Set in the forests, mountains, lakes and ocean near the fictional town of Eagle Creek, the series is inspired by the rugged, natural beauty of the Pacific West Coast. “Kids worldwide have spent more time than usual indoors lately,” said Paris. “This series is a love-letter to nature. We hope it’ll remind kids of the incredible adventures that await them when they head outdoors.”

The beautifully animated 2D series is written and produced entirely in Canada. Paris is joined by Pat Ellingson, retired head of TVO Kids, in script development with Executive Story Editors Shelly Hoffman and Rob Pincombe (Ollie and Moon, Camp Lakebottom). Renowned education and child development consultant Cheryl Gotthelf is advising on scripts, as is J’net Ayayqwayaksheelth, an Indigenous Arts Educator from the Nuu-chah-nulth tribe on Vancouver Island. Series writers include a number of preschool veterans, along with a diverse group of emerging writers, including graduates of the BIPOC TV & Film Kids TV Writing Bootcamp. Composer on the music-driven series is the Emmy-nominated Daniel Ingram (“My Little Pony”). Each episode includes an original song, which will also stream on the Knowledge Kids platforms in short music videos, encouraging kids to sing along.

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YTV uncovers its new original family mystery series, The Hardy Boys, premiering on Friday, March 5

From a media release:

Mystery, family secrets, and the pursuit of the truth collide in the new YTV Original series, The Hardy Boys (13x60min) premiering Friday, March 5 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Based on the books by Franklin W. Dixon, the series is produced by Lambur Productions and Nelvana, in association with Corus Entertainment. The story follows Frank and Joe Hardy as they arrive in the small town of Bridgeport and set out to uncover the truth behind a recent tragedy. Filmed in Toronto and Southern Ontario, the much-anticipated Canadian premiere of The Hardy Boys on YTV follows the series’ highly praised U.S. debut in December 2020 on Hulu. Canadians can also stream The Hardy Boys live and on demand on STACKTV with Amazon Prime Video Channels.

The series unfolds after a family tragedy strikes, when Frank Hardy (Rohan Campbell), 16, and his brother Joe (Alexander Elliot), 12, are forced to move from the big city to their parent’s hometown of Bridgeport for the summer. Frank and Joe’s quiet summer quickly comes to a halt when they discover their dad, detective Fenton Hardy (James Tupper) has taken on a secret investigation, leading the boys to take it upon themselves to start an investigation of their own, and suddenly everyone in town is a suspect.

The all-Canadian cast also includes Keana Lyn (as Callie Shaw), Linda Thorson (as Gloria Estabrook), Bea Santos (as Aunt Trudy), Adam Swain (as Chet Morton), Atticus Mitchell (as J.B. Cox), Riley O’Donnell (as Biff Hooper), Cristian Perri (as Phil Cohen), Rachel Drance (as Stacy Baker), Jane Porter (as Laura Hardy), and Stephen R. Hart (as The Tall Man).

The Hardy Boys is executive produced by Joan Lambur, Peter Mohan, who also serves as Head Writer, and Jason Stone, who also serves as Lead Director. Madeleine Lambur serves as Creative Producer and Paula Smith is Supervising Producer.

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CBC/Radio Canada doubles down on kids programming

From a media release:

At the annual international Kidscreen Summit, CBC/Radio-Canada President and CEO Catherine Tait today announced the public broadcaster’s expanded commitment to serve a wider range of young audiences in Canada, including acquired content and new original French and English-language programming from Canadian creators for CBC Kids and Radio-Canada Jeunesse. The public broadcaster’s goal is to double the amount of content for young audiences on the CBC Gem streaming service over the next year to match the amount of content already available on ICI TOU.TV.

As a leader in serving young children, with one of Canada’s most-watched English-language preschool services on weekday and weekend mornings, CBC Kids is now looking to reach school-aged and tween audiences with new programming. With a focus on live-action scripted series for the 6-12 and tween demographics, new original programming includes tween action-adventure series DETENTION ADVENTURE (10×11, LoCo Motion Pictures and Broken Compass Films). This is CBC’s first original kids scripted series for CBC Gem and will premiere this spring. Following the recent launch of CBC Kids News, CBC is also building on its commitment to serve young Canadians with trustworthy content with the greenlight of LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX (35×5, Echo Media), the English-language version of On parle de sexe, which will provide tweens with age-appropriate information on healthy sexuality. It will premiere as the first original factual series for kids on CBC Gem in 2020. CBC Kids is nominated for 10 Kidscreen Awards this year.

These new series are part of CBC’s goal to double the amount of kids’ digital content available on CBC Gem over the next year. This commitment includes acquired content from Canadian and international distributors, with the streaming service currently offering more than 200 hours of advertising-free programming for young Canadians.

Already a leader in children’s programming in the French market, having doubled its offer on ICI TOU.TV et ICI TOU.TV EXTRA this past year, Radio-Canada Jeunesse will increase its short-form content offer for the tween and teenage groups and strengthen its 360-degree platform approach for successful brands. New original programming launching this year includes two fiction series for the 13-17 age group: NOMADES (10×10, Trio Orange) and AVEC MOI (10×10, Attraction Images). Also set to launch this year is a new magazine style production called 14 MILLE MILLIONS DE CHOSES À SAVOIR (35×15’, KOTV), introducing young audiences to some incredible star power, such as Pierre-Luc Funk, Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais, Gabrielle Fontaine and Anna Beaupré Malounda.

CBC/Radio-Canada will also continue to explore national and international partnerships to tell Canadian stories on a more significant scale and share them with audiences around the world. Examples of some new partnerships include tween sci-fi action adventure ENDLINGS (12×30; Sinking Ship Entertainment for CBC/Radio-Canada, Hulu, NDR, CBBC, ABC Australia, Universal Kids US, NRK, SVT) and MOLLY OF DENALI (38×30; Atomic Cartoons for CBC Kids, WGBH, PBS), an animated series for young children that tells the story of a 10-year-old Indigenous girl and shines a spotlight on Indigenous storytelling and perspectives.

Continuing to build on its amazing success across all of our platforms, L’AGENT JEAN (40×90’’, Happy Camper Media) is back with new episodes in French and English, in partnership with TFO and CBC Kids. Also launching in the fall, is a new live action fiction series for the 4 to 7 age group, in addition to another upcoming live action fiction series for the same age group.

CBC/Radio-Canada’s expanded programming for kids is part of our commitment to provide Canadian parents with a trustworthy digital platform where they can find safe, high-quality, educational and entertaining content for their children.Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail